Change without purpose

• The Right to Information Act (RTI) in India has enhanced accountability in governance.

• The Act’s transparency and disclosure provisions have been criticized by some in governance and administration.

• The amendment to Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, introduced in Section 44(3) of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023, is a significant threat.

• The Act, an outcome of K.S. Puttaswamy (2017), allows government bodies to withhold “public information” if it doesn’t invade privacy or isn’t related to public interest.

• Section 44(3) of the DPDP Act allows government bodies to withhold “personal information” without safeguard provisions on public interest.

• Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw defended the amendment, stating it aimed to harmonize the right to privacy and the right to information.

• The amendment could potentially deny RTI requests of previously public data by classifying them as “personal” and lessen public scrutiny.

• The government must remove the provision amending the RTI Act from the DPDP Act.